|
  |
It's early evening, and still quite comfortably warm out, the sun not going down for a while yet, but well past the point of beating down mercilessly from the clear May sky. Sophie has brought Lizzy up to one of her favorite spots to find a little peace and quiet in the midst of the city, a commercial building that sports a rooftop patio, pretty much always unoccupied at this time of day. There are benches and chairs, a few chaise lounges, and tables of the sitting-at and the side-table sort scattered across the open space.
*
Lizzy takes a deep breath, her blue eyes intense and thoughtful as she stares up at the sky, pointedly away from the sun. She rolls her shoulders lightly then glances over a Sophie. The girl's expression is a thoughtful frown and she chooses to stand for now rather than sit. Sometimes she needs to be dragged over. "You said you needed to ask me something?" Nyx doesn't sound terribly concerned. She is deep in thought, if anything.
*
"Oui," Sophie answers, with that warm smile of hers, as she stands next to Lizzy. "I'd like to know more about you, if that is all right. Whatever you would like me to know. And also, whatever you would wish to ask me, I will answer if I can."
*
"I hardly know where to start with me. But there isn't anything I won't tell you if you ask?" Lizzy's voice is faintly rueful but she takes a deep breath. She ultimately decides to lean herself intot he taller girl's side, almost bonelessly forcing her girlfriend to accept her full, slight weight. "Let's see. I've got a criminal record for assault and B&E. I got into a scuffle with some of these gang dudes and…." She pauses, shaking her head. "I still try to help out my mom but we don't live together. She's kind of… Messed up, I guess? Druggie. I can't stand that sort of thing. She was always good to me though. She… She tried. And it destroyed her." A pause follows. "Um… Stop me if you think of questions. I am horrible at this. I'll ask you a few in a sec."
*
After Lizzy leans into her, and while she is speaking, Sophie slips her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders, and gives her a gentle squeeze toward the end of it, when she's talking about her mom. "I… I had no idea, obviously. I am sorry about your mother. But you have… You are even stronger than I thought, to have come through that and be the person you are."
*
"Yeah, well. I'm an asshole who hides in the shadows and makes sarcastic jibes at people so they'll leave me alone and let me brood in peace, away from the sun," Nyx responds in a scathingly sarcastic tone. Despite this, she's trembling faintly when Sophie squeezes her and doesn't pull away. "I…" She swallows, hard. "Right. Questions. Um. Tell me about your parents?" A beat. "And don't let me keep floundering around for stuff to say, Soph. I have no clue."
*
Sophie laughs softly, before countering, "And yet you come out into the light with me. I am… honored? Flattered, perhaps? Whatever is the right word, I am glad to be interesting enough to draw you out of your shadows." She gives another squeeze, before starting into her own story. "My parents. Well, I suppose the place to start is that they met during the war. They were both with La Resistance, working against the Nazi occupation. My mother had just finished law school when the Germans invaded. My father was a news photographer. He continued to take photos throughout the war, so that others could see what he had witnessed."
*
Nyx smiles faintly as Sophie starts to speak of her parents, shrugging slightly as she does. The girl twists a bit so she can wrap her arms around Sophie's middle as he buries herself against the taller girl's body. Silence follows, if only for a second. "Your mom is probably a total badass," Lizzy notes approvingly. She runs a hand up Sophie's side, as if to be sure that the other blonde is still there. It's quietly intimate without being lewd, but very familiar. "Yep. I come out in the sun with you. When it's too bright out it hurts a bit, but…" A brief pause. "I don't want to lose out on you just to avoid a little light." Nyx swallows hard and then she's silent for a moment. Seconds pass with the wind whipping past the roof, a gentle whoosh across the young women who are standing together there. "I burn really easily. When it's hot out, around noon, and there's no clouds? Or I'm basically blind." She squints a bit as she adds, "When it's bright I can't see much at all. I get by though. It was just horrible when they wanted me to read in school. Anyway. So your parents met with the Resistance and have been together, um, twenty years. That's really cool, honestly."
*
Wordlessly, Sophie turns slightly, so as to put herself more fully between Lizzy and the lowering sun. Nodding to what the other girl said, she replies, "I am lucky to have such parents. I am thankful for them, and that they made it through all that. They have said that there was more than once when if a German soldier had been a better shot, I would not be here." She shivers slightly at that, before continuing, "But on with happier things. At the end of the war in Europe — literally, on V-E Day itself, my father proposed. They were married that same day. They laugh now how so many celebrate their anniversary each year." She chuckles softly at that, before going on. "Father, he resumed his career, and also published the wartime photos he had taken. I should show you some of them sometime. Mother, well, after I was born, she found work with the government, in l' — in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is still not certain if it was her law degree or what she did during the war that got her in. But now, she is a deputy to the French ambassador to the United Nations. She was posted here about eight years ago, and so we have lived in New York ever since."
*
"I thought one of your parents was an ambassador from what you said about the whole government apartment thing," Nyx replies quietly, nodding as the story concludes. She continues to recline into Sophie, hands sliding down the girl's sides to splay along her waist and hip. From here Nyx is quiet for long moments, enjoying the warmth of Sophie's body, the feeling of her pulse beneath her skin. Nyx actually closes her eyes now that the sun is obscured. A slow, measured breath later and, "I really like you, Sophie. Honestly, probably way too much…"
*
Sophie gently strokes the fingertips of her free hand along Lizzy's cheek. "I do not believe there is any such thing, as to like someone too much. One thing that my parents have very deeply taught me, is that life is a precious, precious thing, and to share it with those you care about, with those you love, whenever and as much as you can. It is why we are here. It is what we are for."
*
"Trust someone much and they can really twist the knife when they betray you," Nyx responds quietly, sighing softly as she does. "But I trust you. I just have to risk it, I guess." Her hand is creeping upward again, still exploring with no specific purpose. After that Nyx is silent for a long while, as she often is. Sophie is left to ask questions or quietly hold the smaller girl in her arms.
*
Sophie contentedly does just that for a long, peaceful moment, enjoying the quiet intimacy. When she speaks again, her voice is soft, and the gentle smile on her lips is just about audible in it. "So… What is it that you plan to do from here? Are there things you wish to do with your life? Is there a purpose you've chosen, or perhaps that has chosen you?"
*
"I'm going to try to fix up this shit hole," Nyx responds bluntly. "Help some people. There's too much shit out there that needs to be dealt with. Mutants being corralled over in Mutant Town like cattle, muggers, alien attackers…" Nyx's voice is always soft but it takes on a sharper tone now. She takes a deep breath and slowly exhales, shift her head as she does, if only to rest it more firmly against Sophie's chest. "As for what I wish to do with my life? I…" She holds that for a second and then exhales slowly. "I'm not sure what else comes next. But I want to find out with you around to help me figure it out. What about you? What do you want to do with your life? What are you hoping for, thinking of? What do you want your life to be in ten years…? You know, all the usual shit, I guess."
*
Sophie gives Lizzie a gentle squeeze against her as she answers, "I have much to live up to, in my parents' heroism during the war. These powers, these things I can do, they are a way to do that. I also want to do some of the usual, more normal-person things, but right now, at least, I most want to make a difference in people's lives. I want, in however much I can, to make the world better."
She pauses for a moment, thinking. "In ten years? I hope that by then, I will have a degree, and that, if I am lucky, I will be helping others like me, like I was when my powers first emerged, to find their way."
She smiles, a bit dreamily, and adds, "And I know it is too soon to be saying such things, but the romantic in me cannot help imagining you there with me." And with that, she leans down to gently kiss her girlfriend.
*
"I was hoping," Nyx replies in a whisper as Sophie leans toward her. She leans back slightly, blue eyes drifting upward to meet Sophie's gaze as their lips meet. Nyx holds the kiss for a long moment, her left hand moving upward to tangle her fingers into her girlfriend's hair. She tastes of strawberries and smells of clean sweat and perhaps a hint of soap.
Nyx's heart is oddly calm for once, a peaceful beat that is far at odds to its usual freneticism. When she gets close to people she is normally worked up or anxious. Right now, if anything, Nyx is at peace. That doesn't keep her form kissing Sophie fervently, parting her lips slightly to whisper soft cries into her girl's mouth.
The kiss finally breaks and Lizzy is left to take slow, deep breaths, calming herself over the course of long seconds. "It's not too soon…"
*